Just received this from someone who just signed up and flew for the first time:

Just flew on the system with x-plane Mac. I'm so excited, what a great training tool! I'm a 4 year private pilot in the NY metro area. This will most definately help reinforce one of the most important skills a metro area pilot has, communication! Great Job. I was able to get up and running within 5 minutes of downloading the plugin. Where do I send my $20 a month

Without repetition ... I do feel the same.PE is the greatest thing that happened to me as far as flight simulation.VATSIM is and worldwide but the frequency management sucks and controllers are not equally professional ( I understand they have to start somewhere and learn but unfortunately they do it right there on VATSIM, yes, I know they are observers first etc. but even being a newbie to ATC interaction, I can tell that their skills level vary a lot.)

AJ, I appreciate that you enjoy the service we offer. Take it easy on VATSIM, though. A direct comparison of controller skills is not really fair. We have the luxury of hand picking our controllers, they are not in the same position. I work hard to maintain a good relationship with many people on that network. I'd rather avoid casting VATSIM in a negative light here if that's ok.

They offer services that we don't (worldwide coverage), and vice versa. Different networks for different markets.

Keith, I think the wording did not make a meaning I intended.English is my second language as you know.

What I have meant is that VATSIM and PE have different purposes, VATSIM is oriented to provide ATC coverage for the whole world with the best professional service they can offer but they lack in the frequency management obviously.CTAF or UNICOM is to my understanding, very important part of voice interaction in flight and tuning to proper frequencies is another major part of above.

PE has frequency management set up exactly like in real life.

As far as controller skills, VATSIM has great controller in general but since the new ones need to get their skills on VATSIM, that is were the skills will vary.I have never said that VATSIM controllers are unprofessional..

To make the story short, in my opinion, VATSIM is oriented more to be a universal tool for ATC interaction while PE is the one to use when one wants to learn proper ATC interaction in US.Yes, it is only in California but rules will apply to all US.

I hope that explain a bit better what I had in mind talking about VATSIM versus PE.

I received these encouraging words from a first time user today... thanks to Eugene, Colin and Andrew who were providing ATC tonight (from the brief moment I had to check).

Today was my first day on pilotedge. I flew KSNA-KPSP in a C182, and KPSP-KSNA in a Beech B60T. It was incredible how realistic the experience was. The controllers were perfect. The other traffic was so realistic, it was hard to believe I was in a sim. I will definitely be back, and I'll be bringing some friends. This was by far the best, most realistic experience I have ever had with a sim. I have some real world experience, PPL, so I can tell just how great this is. Outstanding job to all of your controllers. Well Done!!!

I had an absolutely terrific experience last night at PE.I messed up too ....*smile. I was cleared for ILS at SNA and when I was ready to contact the tower, I change the wrong radio frequency, instead COM1 , I changed NAV1 radio frequency which was loc I was already established.Then things went wild, my plane started turning in God knows where...lol, I was disoriented and felt bad for screwing up ....Luckily, the the ANC ( Aviate, Navigate , Communicate) phrase came to my mind.I stabilized the flight, leveled and back to heading instead on loc.I contacted tower and said that I need to re vector for ILS approach I was cleared to.I was told to contact approach back, I did, I requested vectors to ILS again and finally I started calming down...*smile.Second time, everything went fine, I was established on loc, told to change to tower and finally cleared to land.I landed, taxied to the terminal ( monitoring ground) and that was it.

What a great experience, PE is the best so far as far as real life ATC interaction.

I have a hearing problem, the approach controller was speaking very fast, actually a bit fast for me but somehow I managed to understand and follow his directions.

I have a question, in case like I just described, is it OK to ask controller to speak slower?I understand, there were many other planes flying but still ....

Thank you guys for an outstanding job and great almost real life experience, I actually felt like I WAS flying in real life.

I suspect the reason you are surprising yourself with your ability to understand what is being said, despite your hearing loss, is that you are starting to know what to EXPECT the controller to be saying. The more you fly, the easier it will be. The truth is, there's actually a fairly limited set of instructions that you are likely to receive during any particular phase of flight. Once a pilot hones in on this vocabulary, the brain can rule out all sorts of other possibilities and process instructions with even less effort.

A good example would be when you were being vectored to the final approach course on a precision approach. If you are getting set up to fly the ILS 19R into SNA, your heading is 100, and you're 5-6 miles from LEMON, then you can reasonably expect that the next thing that you hear will be "5 from LEMON, fly hdg 160, maintain 3000 until established on the localizer, cleared ILS RWY 19R approach." The two most important things to extract are "160" and "3000". Read back, "heading 160, 3000 until established, cleared ILS 19R."

If you can achieve that level of situational awareness and familiarity with ATC communications, your workload is going to be far, far lower than someone who is literally trying to interpret every single word that ATC is saying, as though they're hearing it for the first time.

And yes, if ATC speaking too quickly, don't hesitate to ask them to speak slower. Trust me, they are happier to say something once at 75% of normal speed than they are to repeat the instructions from scratch.

The human mind is just plainly amazing and it is incredible how it "adapts" to the particular situation.

I was hearing ATC interaction with other planes but kind of in the background, as soon as I hear King Air 33Alpha, my brain gets into super alert and concentration mode where nothing else exist but anticipation for words that are going to come up next.... it is almost funny but this is how it works in my case.

Yes, little by little I am getting to know what to expect as far as wording from the controller, I know it is a very long road and maybe I will never be comfortable with ATC interaction but I am happy because despite my hearing loss I am actually doing it..... just a baby steps but I am definitely learning and getting better.

I also think that one of the major problems for me especially when I dared to open my mouth few first times was a fear to do something wrong, like last night.I believe that things like my radio mess up happen in real life.I was not proud of screwing up the ILS approach but I did, I reacted to it the way probably others would also, I asked for re vectoring and I did not get shot for asking...lol,lol

Thank you your response, Keith.

Off the subject, PE is so addictive for me that I have to force myself not to fly and do my real life chores, it takes a strong will power at the times ...*smile.

Another pilot who had a successful experience tonight during the Chico-Redding focus...

Tonight was my first experience and had a great time. I flew around the pattern at Redding several times and back and forth to Chico. Great experience and excellent controllers. I will use the service and as as a real pilot I need all the practice I can get.